The verdict

Boro's rookie boss Gareth Southgate ended his debut season quaffing from Steve Gibson's poisoned chalice in 12th place - which is better than most of the pre-season predictions from a doom-laden Teesside.

Boro's rookie boss Gareth Southgate ended his debut season quaffing from Steve Gibson's poisoned chalice in 12th place - which is better than most of the pre-season predictions from a doom-laden Teesside.

But it must be better still next term if Boro are to galvanise flagging league form and to justify the claims that the rebranding marks a relaunch of the Riverside Revolution.

Despite working up a steep learning curve that at times required the use of crampons, the dug-out new boy has finished higher in the table and with more points that the man who left for England ended up with 12 months ago and that is creditable if not a revelation.

Steve McClaren's side limped towards the finishing line - albeit with the distractions of an ill-fated double trophy dream - to finish in 14th place with 45 points. Southgate's side finished one point and two places better off.

Both sides won just 12 games but this term Boro have turned one defeat into a draw and although they scored four goals fewer they leaked 11 less.

Jonathan Woodgate has oozed class at the back and has markedly improved those around him, not least Emanuel Pogatetz, and there have been some encouraging signs of a more attacking approach that bodes well for the future shape of the team.

Julio Arca has added much needed creativity and of late has linked up well with rejuvenated Fabio Rochemback to form a more balanced looking Boateng-less midfield while with Mark Viduka on fire in the run-in Boro have shown they can cut open teams and create chances.

But we should be wary of letting the past two games paper over the cracks.

Glaring weaknesses that have been evident throughout a stuttering season, and for longer in some cases, remain.

Boro are crying out for pace in the middle, for a completely rebuilt right side and another viable option up front if they are to compete with the teams fighting for Europe.

And the corrosive complacent mentality that has led to frustrating slow starts and lack of fight against the strugglers must be addressed if Boro are to avoid flirtation with the drop zone themselves.

And there were mistakes, like resting players against Notts County, thus conceding what is Boro's most realistic route to European action, going into the Manchester City home game with one eye on the upcoming FA Cup trip to Old Trafford or the strange substitutions against Aston Villa in a crucial six pointer - although to Southgate's credit he acknowledged the errors where only torture would extract such a confession from McClaren.

So there is much work to be done in the summer, especially if Viduka leaves.

Because for all the sporadic progress Southgate has made this term, it is the rebuilding work now under way and the evidence of it on the pitch next year that will determine the verdict on the new manager.

Most supporters recognised that Southgate was dealt a bum hand that made struggle inevitable.

Had the old boss been here it may have been a similar grind but with more booing and lower crowds.

Southgate inherited a squad most rational observers knew was ageing and unbalanced and a backroom staff more mentally in tune with departed McClaren's defensive philosophy than his own espoused attacking approach.

Southgate showed a glint of steel as he cleared out some big earning bit-part players - Ehiogu, Parlour and Maccarone - and was brave enough to tackle the central 'philosophical differences' behind the scenes and shuffle out key McClarenista Steve Round, a move that heralded an upturn in performances and results.

There have been brave decisions, too, in dropping players when they have not been performing, like Rochemback in the depths of winter or Yakubu in recent weeks.

He faced a tightened belt in the transfer market and a need to trim the wage bill as Teesside started to get "the team it could afford".

And he had to raise dented dressing room morale and reignite the atmosphere at the ground as the club suffered a post-Eindhoven hangover.

The recognition of those problems plus the political capital afforded by his own legendary status as the victorious Cardiff captain and skipper in the UEFA Cup glory run bought him leeway through what has been a sticky season at times.

But next season the new boy tag won't wash.

Expectations of Southgate will be higher and the scrutiny more intense. Boro have spent a decade talking up ambitions of Europe and although they are now trying to dampen what are now aspirations well above our historical station, they pointedly did not cut prices because, they argued, they need the revenue to compete with the best in the market and in the table.

If they fail to do so, and if the problems are not addressed, then patience will evaporate quickly and some very tough questions will be asked.